1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the continuous treatment of a water well.
In general, the treating of water wells is effected sporadically using a method known as shock chlorination. Shock chlorination commonly involves the steps of pumping up to 200 gallons or more of water from a well, dumping large quantities of chlorine into the pumped water, dumping large quantities of chlorine into the well, pouring the pumped water back into the well, then letting the chlorine sit in the well overnight and finally pumping water from the well until the chlorine is removed, i.e. until the chlorine smell is gone. Shock chlorination is sometimes done every one to six months, but usually much less frequently because it is so unpleasant. When using the shock chlorination technique, it is necessary to shut down a well for an extended period, and following shock chlorination the taste and smell of chlorine make the water unpalatable, and it often takes days to become palatable. Large doses of chlorine can have an adverse effect on well hardware such as pitless adaptors, metal well casings and some pumping equipment which are used in most water wells in North America. With most existing well chlorinating methods, filtering of water leaving the well is necessary to remove precipitates and chlorine from the water, but is rarely done. Moreover, shortly after the chlorine is pumped from the well, problems requiring shock chlorination for a solution reappear. Thus, the objectives of chlorination have been only marginally achieved using shock chlorination techniques. Not only is shock chlorination expensive, but it is functionally inadequate and ineffective.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of apparatuses have been proposed for periodically adding chlorine or other chemicals to a well each time water is removed from the well. Examples of such apparatuses are described in Canadian Patent No. 1,255,265 which issued to K. D. Behrens on Jun. 6, 1989, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,525, issued to G. A. Handelhand on Jan. 15, 2974 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,266 issued to G. H. Kruso on Jan. 20, 1998. Aside from being expensive and sticking up above the top of the well, the patented devices are substantially more complicated and are designed for a purpose differing from that of the present invention. By dropping chlorine into the top of a well containing a pitless adaptor, there is a distinct probability that the chlorine will land on and corrode the pitless adaptor.
Existing devices for chlorinating wells were designed for purposes differing from that of the present invention. While earlier inventions use chlorine in various forms, e.g. pellets or liquid to chlorinate wells, the similarity of such inventions to the method, the purpose and the apparatus of the present invention ends there.